


Under Emergency Measures

by clefairytea



Series: Peaks and Valleys Adjacent [6]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Clefairy's Holiday Fic Request Fest, Family Dynamics, Gen, M/M, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21673528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clefairytea/pseuds/clefairytea
Summary: It was no good – the wall of snow outside the door had jammed it closed. Not even Machamp could force his way through – at least, not without threatening to bring Masami’s entire house down around them. Blue leaned looked about at the windows, contemplating the upper floor. A kid could maybe wiggle out of the window in Red’s old room, but that was about it. Even then, the storm outside would make it dangerous.Next to him, Red grabbed Charizard’s Pokéball from his best.“Good idea,” Blue said, getting ready to send Arcanine out himself.“Oh no you don’t!”Masami appeared between them, seizing her son and Blue by the arm. Although they now both towered over her, her grip was just as firm as it had been when they were six years old.--Red and Blue are snowed in.Unfortunately, so are their parents.
Relationships: Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Red
Series: Peaks and Valleys Adjacent [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200031
Comments: 22
Kudos: 510





	Under Emergency Measures

**Author's Note:**

> Another request for an anon on Tumblr!
> 
> Content warnings for very light family tension.

It was no good – the wall of snow outside the door had jammed it closed. Not even Machamp could force his way through – at least, not without threatening to bring Masami’s entire house down around them. Blue leaned looked about at the windows, contemplating the upper floor. A kid could maybe wiggle out of the window in Red’s old room, but that was about it. Even then, the storm outside would make it dangerous.

Next to him, Red grabbed Charizard’s Pokéball from his best.

“Good idea,” Blue said, getting ready to send Arcanine out himself.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Masami appeared between them, seizing her son and Blue by the arm. Although they now both towered over her, her grip was just as firm as it had been when they were six years old.

Red looked down at his mother, frowning.

“The news said this is a Pokémon-created storm,” Daisy said, clasping a cup of tea between her hands. “We all need to stay put until they’ve controlled the situation.”

“Or some ten-year-old kid has,” Blue muttered darkly. The news showed the raging snowstorm settling across Kanto, amidst it a large, shadowy Pokémon nobody could make out. Red twitched beside him, clearly itching to get out there and try to contain whatever was going on.

Blue didn’t normally share Red’s need to play hero. That was his thing, and Blue didn’t feel the need to risk his neck for something that was none of his business. In fact, he’d normally be _all_ for being snowed in with Red. Between managing the Battle Tree in Alola, the recent work Blue had started to do in Galar, and Moon turning up at their house uninvited, they didn’t have a lot of time just the two of them.

Today, however, well…

“ _Think_ about this, Blue,” Gramps said, emerging from the living room. “You need experience to effectively respond to a disaster like this.”

“Pfft, what, like we’re _amateurs_?” Blue said, flicking his hand. Daisy sighed and took long drink of tea, looking as though she wished it was something stronger.

“Blue, you _know_ that’s not what he means. People and their Pokémon train for years to manage this kind of thing! If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could hurt someone more than help them,” she said, and then looked meaningfully at Red. “Or hurt a lot of Pokémon.”

Red looked at her, mouth twisting, but unclasped his fingers from around Charizard’s Pokéball. Pikachu slumped on his shoulder, squeaking her disappointment. They both still looked mutinous. There was not the slightest doubt in Blue’s mind that he would be woken in the middle of the night by Red trying to sneak out. He patted him on the back.

“Guess we’re grounded, pal,” he said grimly. It just had to be the tense two-hour slot Gramps visited, didn’t it? Couldn’t Team Freeze or whoever it was this time have just _waited_?

Gramps looked just as uncomfortable, clutching his work laptop like a teddy bear. Oh, he was just _itching_ to get back into dissecting a data-set or tearing apart some poor kid’s dissertation. Their now-and-then teas with Masami and Daisy was about as much family time as he could swallow.

“Don’t be silly. You’re both almost 30. Of course you’re not grounded,” Masami said briskly, “but you aren’t allowed out there.”

“Sounds like grounded to me,” Blue muttered, exchanging a small smirk with Red. Red looked at his mother, clearly asking what they would do in the meantime.

“Well, of course we’ll find ways to pass the time,” Masami said.

“Nina got board games for her birthday this year! I think there’s a couple in her bag,” Daisy said cheerfully, as her little daughter shouted for attention from the living room.

“Yes! I’ll whip us up some of that lovely Alolan hot chocolate you brought back!” Masami said. The two women swept away, very cheerful, leading Blue and Red along with Professor Oak in the hallway. Sylveon slinked out of the living room – apparently tired of Blue’s niece attempting to _play_ with her (as if she would ever lower herself to such pedestrian activity). She swatted Gramps across the ankle as she passed.

Blue stared at his grandfather. Red stared at the wall, one hand moving to the small of Blue’s back. Gramps mostly stared at Blue, but occasionally glanced down at Sylveon, still nervous of her teeth after all these years. Sylveon, for her part, merely wound around Blue’s legs and purred like she was the sweetest creature to ever grace the earth. At the very least, she probably believed as much.

“This is very silly,” Gramps said eventually. “We should really be able to be around each other at this point, don’t you think?”

“Ha. We’re around each other right now, Gramps, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Blue said airily, hating himself for falling back on such an old, bad habit. Red’s fingers press into the back of his shirt and he gives him an ‘I’m okay’ sort of nudge. Gramps rubbed his forehead, giving him a pained sort of smile.

“Yes, well –“

“Grandpa!” shouted a tiny voice, and Daisy’s daughter runs in, holding a board game over her head. “We’re going to play Pokémon Masters!”

“They still have that old game?” Blue said, bemused. They’d had a copy as a kid. The goal was to take your little piece around the board and eventually challenge the Indigo League. It involved a lot of different chips and cards.

Daisy had always been keen on things like that, but Blue had never had the patience to sit through it.

“It’s the newest version,” Nina said, as though he were a complete imbecile for not knowing as much. “You and Uncle Red are in it.”

Red snapped back into the conversation again.

“We _are_?” Blue said. What had he lately that had handed over the rights for _that_? Maybe he should read the contracts he gets sent more carefully.

“Yeah,” she replied dully. As usual, she failed to find her _world-famous uncles_ appropriately interesting. She turned back to Gramps, tugging on his jumper. “Grandpa, we’re going to play in teams and you’re on mine.”

“Hm. I have a lot of work to get on with, erm –“

Gramps looked down at the little girl, eyes blank and wide with panic. Oh, he _had_ to be kidding.

“Gramps,” he growled. There’s no way he would control his temper if Gramps had sincerely forgotten his great grand-daughter’s name.

“Nina,” Gramps said quickly, catching the look on Blue’s face. With a careful glance at him, Gramps knelt down. “So! I will only play one game. How does that sound?”

Such terms were deemed satisfactory. With a solemn nod, she toddled off, the box rattling in her tiny arms.

“At least you’re doing better with her,” Blue said finally.

“I’m trying to, at the least,” Gramps admitted, putting his laptop down on the hallway table.

“Hot chocolate’s ready!” called Masami from the kitchen. “I’ve went a bit mad laying out snacks… Could someone give me a hand?”

Red defected to the kitchen immediately. Traitor.

Something clattered loudly in the living room.

“Sounds like they’re busy setting up, Gramps,” Blue pointed out, walking past him to join his sister and niece. “Let’s go give them a hand.”

The game had far more pieces than Blue remembered. It even had some kind of system where you were meant to synch your Silphone to it. Blue did not like or understand this in the least. As he and Gramps were desperately grappling to get the app they downloaded to work, Masami and Red rejoined them, bearing cups of Tapu Cocoa.

To everyone but Blue’s great surprise, Red agreed to play.

Blue just smirked to himself, shuffling a deck of item cards. Red could not _resist_ a bit of competition. Especially with them playing opposite one another for once.

It wasn’t long before complaints of over-competitiveness arose, and Red and Blue were switched to be on the same team. Which was ridiculous. Just because Blue had been caught looking up strategy tips and Red had started counting cards.

“Once rivals, always rivals,” Gramps muttered to himself, but he was smiling.

Their loss, Blue thought. They would still absolutely _crush_ everyone else.

**Author's Note:**

> I legit tried to tag this 'Blue's Sylveon' before belatedly remembering that's something I made up entirely.
> 
> Anyone else have that board game Pokemon Masters as a kid? It was stupidly difficult and complicated and I loved it.


End file.
